Crossword Genius

Path around home is familiar (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

routine

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'familiar' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'path around home' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'around' could be 'o' (a round letter) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'home' could be 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in') and 'in' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'is' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for routine that I've seen before include "Regular, humdrum" , "Method" , "Shtick" , "Monotonous" , "Variety act" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app